Last night Michal Neuvirth made his Lehigh Valley Phantoms debut, and did so in a winning fashion. The oft-injured Neuvirth was assigned to the AHL on a conditioning stint and told Inside AHL Hockey following the game that he would be joining the team in Boston ahead of tomorrow night’s match up with the Bruins.
Neuvirth was strong overall, officially making 31 saves on 34 shots, and unofficially making 34 saves on 37 according to yours truly. Of the 37 tracked shots, 11 of them qualified as high danger, including all three goals that he allowed. He was a perfect nine for nine on medium danger shots, and 17 for 17 on low danger shots.
All three goals he allowed were goals that you don’t expect your goalie to stop. You could maybe argue that the first goal was due to a bad rebound, but outside of that the goals were more on the team’s defense if anything.
His “weakest” moment probably came with just over eight minutes remaining in the third period when he and defenseman T.J. Brennan got signals mixed and Neuvirth ended up turning the puck over to the Wolf Pack. Besides that hiccup, Neuvirth showed no signs of rust or limitations and looks ready to step in for the Philadelphia Flyers.
All things considered, this was clearly a step forward for Neuvirth and he’ll look to provide some stability in goal for a Flyers team that’s desperately in need of just that.
